County Proposal Would Reduce Deer Kill

Dupage Forest Officials May Shift Culling Approach

July 12, 2000|By John Chase, Tribune Staff Writer.

Following a public-relations calamity this winter that even turned supporters of deer culling against the program in DuPage County's forest preserves, county forest officials on Tuesday announced a plan to overhaul the system and kill fewer deer in the next five years.

The changes--the first major shift in the program since deer culling began in DuPage County in 1993--is a bit of a concession for the county Forest Preserve District, which in January faced harsh criticism for the often-controversial program. The biggest complaint was that the district consistently overestimated the number of white-tailed deer in the preserves and therefore killed too many.

Under the proposed plan announced Tuesday night at a special public hearing, the district will alter the manner in which it determines how many deer are killed on forest preserve property each year.

Although providing no numbers, officials said the result is expected to be that the district will take a more conservative approach to culling deer.

"In the near future, over the next three to five years, less deer will be killed," said Dan Griffin, who oversees the program as the district's director of operations. "There also will be a decrease in the frequency of deer killed in particular preserves. We won't be going back every year to the same preserve to take out deer."

The plan still needs the endorsement of the Forest Preserve Commission. But if approved, the district no longer will use estimates for how many deer live in the preserves as its main factor in determining the number that should be killed. Rather, it will analyze the extent of ecological damage deer are causing in each preserve to determine how many should be removed.

Although deer counts will continue, Griffin said, they will be relied upon less heavily relied..

He acknowledged there are questions regarding this new approach.

"It's reactive and not pro-active. And the problem with that is it's like waiting to fix your roof until after it leaks," Griffin said. "We're going to wait for the damage to be done first."

But the changes were predicated by a snafu that all but required a major policy shift.

In January, residents living near McDowell Grove Forest Preserve in Naperville discovered the district's plan to kill dozens of deer living in the preserve, even though many of the animals already had been driven off by construction at Fawell Dam in McDowell Grove.

At the time, the district had stated it was prepared to kill as many as 61 of the estimated 71 deer living in the preserve.

They were basing that figure on a standard national formula that says the correct density of deer in open space is about 15 for every 1 square mile.

Eventually, the state's Department of Natural Resources denied the district a permit to shoot the deer in McDowell Grove because forest officials had been unable to prove the deer were destroying the vegetation there.

"McDowell pointed out some flaws in our methodology," Griffin said. "Our focus was based too much on formula rather than ecological evidence that deer are doing damage to the preserves."

Deborah O'Malley, who has in the past supported deer culling but protested the culling at McDowell Grove, said she is pleased with the proposed changes.

"It's a much more holistic and reasonable approach," she said. "It sounds like a good plan, and, hopefully, it can be carried out."

The district has scheduled a meeting to seek public comment on the proposed changes for 7 to 9 p.m. next Tuesday in its new headquarters at the Danada Forest Preserve in Wheaton.

Deer populations across DuPage County in the last two decades have risen steadily as the area has become more urban and the animals' predators have been driven away.

The overpopulation has led to a degradation of the preserves' ecosystems as deer eat their way though plants in one preserve and then move to neighboring preserves.

During the first two years of the deer-culling program, the district faced a great deal of opposition as sharpshooters killed nearly 900 deer. But until January, the number of complaints was decreasing as the district reduced the number of deer killed.

Last year, the district culled 157 deer, about 100 fewer than the state granted permits to be killed.

Other changes being suggested include:

- Shortening the period when culling can occur by one month, to January through February, from January through March.

- Studying whether the entire program can be handled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Currently, the USDA handles the sharpshooting.

- Looking more closely at outside influences that may be affecting where deer are living.